The field of this invention relates to the dispersement of a volatile substance into a designated air space and more particularly to an air treatment apparatus which is to be used in combination with a conventional air conditioning apparatus to achieve this dispersement of the substance within the atmosphere of the designated air space.
The use of air conditioning apparatuses within a confined area is well-known. Air conditioning apparatuses are used within the home and office as both centrally located units and also as window located units. Also, air conditioning apparatuses are located within the interior of automobiles.
Some forms of air conditioning apparatuses use an air movement device such as a fan which pushes air from within a confined area (or from the ambient), through a filter, across coils which either cool the air or heat the air and then discharge such into the confined area. The total comfort concept which is used by most air conditioning apparatuses encompasses heating, cooling, humidification and air cleaning. Air cleaning is achieved through the filter which is used to remove large particulates such as street and house dust as well as sub-micronic size particulates such as tobacco smoke and typical airborne bacteria and viruses.
However, most air conditioning systems at the present time ignore an air quality problem and that is offensive odors resulting from normal environmental living conditions. Through use of a conventional air conditioning system, a modern building or motor vehicle which is built to current total comfort standards could be warm in winter, cool in summer, provide ideal humidity levels at all times, be practically void of dust, pollen, smoke, insects and noise, and yet be permeated with offensive odors. Typical offensive odors within a home are cooking odors, floor wax, wallpaper, drapes, cigarette smoke, plumbing drains, trash cans, etc.
Within a single confined area, a human being will become immune to given low level odor, such as a common household odor. After sustained exposure to that odor the human being may conclude that the house (or automobile) is in an odor free condition. Therefore, anyone else entering the house can quickly ascertain that such an odor does exist and may find that odor most undesirable.
In order to remove conventional household odors it is common to use what is termed an air freshener. A popular air freshener is an aerosol container and is to be sprayed around rooms of a house, or office, or within the interior of an automobile or other confined space. Such air fresheners are generally two types, those being which mask odors and those which remove odors. However, both types are in no way associated with the air conditioning apparatus which is utilized within the confined area.
Previously there has been attempts as to including within an air conditioning apparatus some form of air freshening means. It has been known to supply air freshener chemicals to a filter and as the air is passed through the filter of the air conditioning apparatus, the air freshener will inherently be dispensed into the air stream. Unfortunately, this type of arrangement provided little or no control over the amount of air freshener that was being dispensed in the air nor was there any control as to the length of time that the air freshener was supplied into the air. The same is true in the using of any gel used in conjunction within the housing of the air conditioning apparatus. Neither of these basic systems provide for interchangeable air freshener units.